TO OUR GIRLS.

Observer, Volume 6, Issue 146, 30 June 1883, Page 232

TO OUR GIRLS.

DBAB.^E^^iikhowifaU'W^ '"!.■ ■'''.'■".- "HeisafooJ, irhO;.tk|n)cs,by;forceqr skill* . : .;■_.. To^urn the current of a' woman's will." ",' f | , but though I cannot, dfjre not, hope ; to ijajjluehce you -in ,the slightest degree, an4<m ,aj(ljpro^abiiity .. shall, receive rip angwerj to my, letter, or a^, best, anything but billets doux, still <! mean, in thiei epistle, like -my. namesake, of olds to. put' with 'my fasces and metaphorically; :if; not . physically, endeavour to lick you, into » shi^pe. ..Youhaye the. advantage in one, respect! pyeryour r .sißt;er« of the colder hemisphere, in that, you obtain, the acme ?of schppl-girl, ambition quicker tKan dp, you ;grow up faster, and I'm afraid I. must add, m|ich faster -than they dp, top fast in fac6l v .Ah! me, fjom bix to. sixteen you are all dying rt^ grow up; ten years later you, would giye, anything to grow down again, but Old Time's hour glass, ie ; neVer reversed, the sand only runs one. w^y, down, down, down. .I.will give you an instance, of; -what 1 I call your precocity. The other d^y. a young lady, considerably under the age of,sweefcf sixteen,*, presented rher father with a -healthy pledge of somebpdy's affection, I ought perhaps to say some bodies', as' there 'appear' to have been sbveral promising yp r ung Don Juans, of ages' ranging from ; thirteen upwards, engaged in the", transaction. Not to^ speak of ? the nudraiity of the thing,) Lam sure you will admit that this is jusfr '^"'little, too* fast. You read, or t if you dp,. it is,s!uch pefhicipus {rashias docs you more hai'in than! good. Mind, .I^on't by "any means .object to good novels by gopd writers j it is'^the'"' Tpung Ladies' Journal V style . that I ; ha^be. It is the idiotic twaddle there imbibed whi(;hisresponsible : for much of your backsliding. ' Ybiir romantic young minds convert the bank clerks and counterjumpers of real life, into the dukes and niarqiiises (the style,, of literature I refer to ..seldom cpndeacend^tt) peal witpxiany .inferior, g^ad^ of 'the peerage) of fictiotf, and your poor little soub and bodies often suffer through, the, haypc wrpught in your little brains, by over-loading them with such unmitigated bosh. The result is, that many a "good man and true" is thrown over for some empty-headed noodle whoße conversation is gathered from the same sources as your own, and who only too often turns out to be quite as great a blackguard as the wicked earls you' are so fond; of reading about. Try and bear, this in mind, dear girls : members pf the peerage are |>ul men, and seldom excel other men in wickedness, any more > than they do , [in goodness. The most beautiful thing in Nataire, perhaps, is a girl,?but how seldom we see, one oontent to let Nature : alone. You spend your pocket money or earnings in adornmentj as you call it, I call it desecration. Your person is decked with cheap (and nasty) jewellery, gaudy and ill-matching stuffs ,and ribbons ; your pretty heads are disfigured with outrageous hats and bonnets ; your poor feet: are ( crammed, intp high-heeled, abpminations, imscallecl boots, to make them look small, with the result of turning them intp abortions. Your unfortunate waists are jammed into a compass leas by half than nature allows them; hearts, lungs, and livers all being sacrifiqed to. eighteen indies — grand ambition ! Your too ruddy cpmplexipns of ten betray their -secret ; for, my poor j girls, it is the study, o,f a lifetime to know how to " make-up "..jjatunilly, and. ihe^.-wprk of hours to ; j produce areal^ looking ! complexion, and lyou ! imagine ibje^n be doneinaE^mihutes, with a ; pot of,irouge, the tpp of ypur' finger,, knd a strong dash of pearl, powder oyej all. ': No,'^believe me, cold water is the best cosine|ie. Y^ur manners are horribly bad j yipu ,'mi^ke Jpertness for piquancy, bounce for breeding, freedpm for ease. Your conversation is a initture ojf scandalpus tittle-tattle with a dash of impropriety. Your religion is too often a hysterical farce, or a cloak for surreptitious assignations. Your homes are prisons, your parents jailers, your brothers, if they 'dp their duty and look after you, bores in your eyes. Exercise, properly speaking, you take none, unless dawdling up and down Queen-street is Such. Excitement is the breath of your life, and instigators of Buch humbugs as the Salvation Army, profit by your foolishness, and conduce to your ruin. I may appear harsh, but truth naked and unvarnished is seldom palatable, and, it is no part of a Lictor's duty to be: lenient. I can trace back much of your looseness of language, and laxity of morals, to those hotbeds of lasciviousness, boarding-schools. You know, and I know to, what goes on in some of them, and how soon a pure-minded girl becomes corrupted by the talk and practices she hear« and sees, for some how or other, girls are more apt to drag their fellows down into the mire of their own impurity, than boys. I assert boldly, and without fear of oontradicfcipn, that if one could be present, unknown to its occupants, in the dormitories of most girls' boarding-schools, language would be heard, and scenes witnessed, amongst these innocent looking girls, that would ariake the hair of a roue stand on end, and call blushes to the cheeks of a Satyr. But.the evil does not end with the pollution of a woman's choicest treasure —her modesty. Its ramifications extend : still further, and too often body . as well as soul, is ruined by the vile habits learned at.school. How is it that so many girls between the ages of fourteen and twenty become the victims of consumption? Parents seldom know the real Reason pf their darling's, holbw cheeks, dark rimmed eyes, and nervous manner, and would repudiate the truth, were it told them, with indignant horror. The ddctore know though, right well. No doubt I shall be accused by you of exaggeration, but riot one in ton; of you when passed your youth, can look back upon your school day , year.c .without a blush., Parents are careful in [phosing male friends for their girls, I would bid" them be more, careful still in their choice of feiriale friends.

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